Opening Day

One year ago I bought a new 10-24mm lens and walked down to Robson Square to photograph the downtown celebrations happening for the opening of the Winter Olympics. Despite the fact that it was totally pouring, in standard Vancouver fashion, there were a ton of people there watching on big screens the actual ceremony which was taking place just down the street.

I ran around for a few hours soaking my camera and new lens hoping that they wouldn't fry and trying to get as many pictures as possible.

What difference does a year make? I loved watching Sydney Crosby shoot the winning goal for gold. Knowing that it was happening in an arena I'd been to many times before and was only a few blocks away was kind of cool. I enjoyed the free events around the city and really enjoyed that people were out and having a good time. It was great time to be a photographer especially one who lived downtown. I've shot Vancouver a million ways so it was great having all this new stuff to photograph literally surrounding my place. I actually got to meet, talk to and photograph Olympic athletes (the lady on the right is a friend of mine, not a gold medal winner. Sorry Carmel) and gold medal winners. That's was pretty neat for me and not something that I expected or expect to happen again any time soon.

Was it worth billions of dollars? No. Will it be all the boosters said it would be? No. Will it be as bad as the detractors said it would be? No. But I think, financially at least, the detractors were closer to the truth. I voted against having the Olympics (I also didn't vote for that asshole Campbell either) but, once it was decided that we would have them, I wanted them to be a success. It would be a terrible thing to spend all of that money for nothing. Vancouver is also my home and I didn't particularly want to see it embarrassed. Hoping for such is just petty and not constructive.

In the end, people will remember what they want to remember. I'll remember coming home from work, grabbing my cameras and heading out until midnight almost every night for the full two weeks. And, totally selfishly, I moved away from Canada shortly after that so I, at least, won't be stuck with the bill. ;-)

Opening Day

One year ago I bought a new 10-24mm lens and walked down to Robson Square to photograph the downtown celebrations happening for the opening of the Winter Olympics. Despite the fact that it was totally pouring, in standard Vancouver fashion, there were a ton of people there watching on big screens the actual ceremony which was taking place just down the street.

I ran around for a few hours soaking my camera and new lens hoping that they wouldn't fry and trying to get as many pictures as possible.

What difference does a year make? I loved watching Sydney Crosby shoot the winning goal for gold. Knowing that it was happening in an arena I'd been to many times before and was only a few blocks away was kind of cool. I enjoyed the free events around the city and really enjoyed that people were out and having a good time. It was great time to be a photographer especially one who lived downtown. I've shot Vancouver a million ways so it was great having all this new stuff to photograph literally surrounding my place. I actually got to meet, talk to and photograph Olympic athletes (the lady on the right is a friend of mine, not a gold medal winner. Sorry Carmel) and gold medal winners. That's was pretty neat for me and not something that I expected or expect to happen again any time soon.

Was it worth billions of dollars? No. Will it be all the boosters said it would be? No. Will it be as bad as the detractors said it would be? No. But I think, financially at least, the detractors were closer to the truth. I voted against having the Olympics (I also didn't vote for that asshole Campbell either) but, once it was decided that we would have them, I wanted them to be a success. It would be a terrible thing to spend all of that money for nothing. Vancouver is also my home and I didn't particularly want to see it embarrassed. Hoping for such is just petty and not constructive.

In the end, people will remember what they want to remember. I'll remember coming home from work, grabbing my cameras and heading out until midnight almost every night for the full two weeks. And, totally selfishly, I moved away from Canada shortly after that so I, at least, won't be stuck with the bill. ;-)